David Fastovsky

  • Professor Emeritus
  • Department of Geosciences
  • Phone: 401.874.2185
  • Email: defastov@uri.edu
  • Office Location: Office: 313 Woodward

Research

  • Vertebrate-bearing terrestrial paleoenvironments
  • Geobiology of critical intervals in Earth history;
  • Paleobiology of Mesozoic, terrestrial vertebrates
  • Pre-Quaternary Paleopedology

Research Activity

  • (2006 – 2007), A new and unexpected dinosaur-bearing region from the Late Cretaceous of south-central México (State of Michoacán, México), National Geographic Society, $19,077.
  • (2004 – 2005), Collaborative study of dinosaur-bearing paleoenvironments in Coahuila and Chihuahua, Mexico, Fulbright Garcia-Robles Scholar Program (Council for International Exchange of Scholars), $38,000.
  • (2002), (w/ T.B. Boving, P.I.), A Preliminary Web Portal for RI Water Resources, RI Water Resources Center, $5000.
  • (2003), Geological Field Trip to the Colorado Plateau, Rhode Island Space Grant (NASA), $3000.
  • (2002), (w/ O.D. Hermes, P.I.), New X-ray fluorescence spectrophotometer for the University of Rhode Island XRF Laboratory, National Science Foundation, $119,686.
  • (2002), (w/ T.B. Boving, P.I.), Enhancing the Chemical Retention Capacity of a Roadway Runoff Retention Pond System using Wood Filters, URI Transportation Center, $87,097.
  • (2002), Stratigraphy and Geochronology, Late Triassic Chinle Formation, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, Petrified Forest Museum Association, $4220.
  • 2002), Geological Field Trip to the Colorado Plateau, Rhode Island Space Grant (NASA), $3000
  • (2001), (w/ A.I. Veeger, Co-PI) A new curriculum for the Geosciences, College of the Environment and Life Sciences: Experiential Learning Initiative, $5000.
  • (1999 – 2001), Magnetostratigraphic correlation of Late Cretaceous and Early Paleogene vertebrate-bearing deposits, Nemegt Basin, Mongolia, National Science Foundation, $75,327.

Education

Ph.D., 1986 University of Wisconsin-Madison
M.A., Paleontology, University of California-Berkeley
B.A., Biology, Reed College

Selected Publications

  1. Ramezani, J., Hoke, G.D., Fastovsky, D.E., Bowring, S.A., Therrien, F., Dworkin, S.I., Atchley S.C., and Nordt, L.C., High-precision U-Pb zircon geochronology of the Late Triassic Chinle Formation, Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona, USA): temporal constraints on the early evolution of dinosaurs: GSA Bulletin, v. 123, p. 2142-2159. doi: 10.1130/B30433.1
  2. Loughney, K., Parker, W.G., and Fastovsky, D.E., 2011, Vertebrate fossil preservation in blue paleosols from Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, and its implications for vertebrate biostratigraphy in the Chinle Formation: PALAIOS, v. 26, p. 700 – 719.
  3. Fastovsky, D.E., Weishampel, D.B., Watabe, M., Barbold, R., Tsogtbaatar, Kh., and Narmandakh, P., 2011, A nest of Protoceratops andrewsi (Dinosauria, Ornithischia: Journal of Paleontology, v. 85, p. 1035 – 1041.
  4. Fastovsky, D.E., 2008, The Dinosaurs, in, Regal, B. (ed.), Icons of Evolution: An Encyclopedia of People, Evidence, and Controversies, Vol. 2: Greenwood Publishing, Westport, CT, p. 335 – 360.
  5. Fastovsky, D.E., and Weishampel, D.B., 2009, Dinosaurs: a Concise Natural History: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 379 p.
  6. Fastovsky, D.E., 2009, Ideas in dinosaur paleontology: resonating to social and political context, in, Sepkoski, D., and Ruse, M.J. (eds.), The Paleobiological Revolution: University of Chicago Press, p. 239 – 253.
  7. Fastovsky, D.E., 2008, The Dinosaurs, in, Regal, B. (ed.), Icons of Evolution: An Encyclopedia of People, Evidence, and Controversies, Vol. 2: Greenwood Publishing, Westport, CT, p. 335 – 360.
  8. Weishampel, D.B., Fastovsky, D.E., Watabe, M., Varricchio, D., Jackson, F., Tsogtbaatar, K., Barsbold, R., 2008, New oviraptorid embryos from Bugin-tsav, Nemegt Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Mongolia, with insights into their habitat and growth: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: v. 28, p. 1110 – 1119.
  9. Fastovsky, D.E., 2007, Dinosaur behavior, in, 2007 McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, p. 145 – 148.
  10. Fastovsky, D.E., and Weishampel, D.B., 2005, Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs (second edition): Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 485 p.
  11. Fastovsky, D.E., and Sheehan, P.M., 2005, The Extinction of the Dinosaurs in North America: GSA Today, v. 15, p. 4 – 10.
  12. Fastovsky, D.E., Hermes, O.D., Strater, N.H., Bowring, S.A., Montellano, M., and Hernandez, R., 2005, Pre-Late Jurassic, Fossil-Bearing Volcanic and sedimentary red beds of Huizachal Canyon, Tamaulipas, Mexico, in, Anderson, T.H., Nourse, J.A., and McKee, J.W. (eds.), 2005, The Mojave-Sonora Megashear Hypothesis: Development, Assessment, and Alternatives, Geological Society of America Special Paper, no. 393, p. 401 – 426.
  13. Fastovsky, D.E., and Smith, J.B., 2004, Dinosaur Paleoecology, in, Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmolska, H., The Dinosauria (2nd Edition): University of California Press, Berkeley, p. 614 – 626.
  14. Kashiyama, Y., Fastovsky, D.E., Rutherford, S., King, J., and Montellano, M., 2004, Genesis of a locality of exceptional fossil preservation: Tepexi de Rodriguez (mid-Cretaceous, Puebla, Mexico): Cretaceous Research, v. 25, p. 153 – 177.
  15. Fastovsky, D.E., Huang, Y., Hsu, J., Martin-McNaughton, J., Sheehan, P.M., and Weishampel, D.B., 2004, The shape of Mesozoic dinosaur richness: GEOLOGY, v. 32, p. 877 – 880.
  16. Archibald, J.D., and Fastovsky, D.E., 2004, The extinction of the dinosaurs, in, Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmolska, H., The Dinosauria (2nd Edition): University of California Press, Berkeley, p. 672 – 684.
  17. Fastovsky, D.E., 2000, Dinosaur architectural adaptations in a gymnosperm-dominated world, in, Gastaldo, R.A. and DiMichele, W.A., eds., Phanerozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems: The Paleontological Society Papers, v. 6, p. 183 – 207.
  18. Therrien, F., and Fastovsky, D.E., 2000, Paleoenvironments of early theropods, Chinle Formation (Late Triassic), Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona: PALAIOS, v. 15, p. 194-211.
  19. Sheehan, P.M., Fastovsky, D.E., Barreto, C., and Hoffmann, R.G., 2000, Dinosaur abundance was not declining in a “3 m gap” at the top of the Hell Creek Formation, Montana and North Dakota: GEOLOGY, v. 28, p. 523-526.

Courses

  • Evolution of the Earth (GEO 204)
  • The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs (GEO 102)
  • Evolution (BIO/GEO 250)
  • Understanding the Earth (GEO 103)
  • Reconstructing Terrestrial Paleoenvironments (GEO 555)